Barbara J. Wilson, a longtime University of Illinois faculty member and administrator who has served as second-in-command of the U of I System since 2016, was unanimously approved as president of the University of Iowa today by the Board of Regents.
Wilson, currently executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs for the three-university U of I System, will take office July 15 as Iowa’s 22nd president. She will replace Bruce Harreld, who is stepping down in May after five years as president.
U of I System President Tim Killeen said an interim vice president will be named soon and will serve during a national search to fill Wilson’s current role as second-in-command, senior operating officer and chief academic officer of Illinois’ flagship university system.
“Barb’s talents and leadership are matched by her kindness, compassion and a rare ability to relate and connect with everyone,” Killeen said. “I am so sorry to see her go, but so grateful for her many contributions to our students, our universities and our excellence. I wish her the very best as she moves on to this new, richly deserved opportunity.”
Wilson, 63, first joined the faculty in 2000 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), a peer institution of Iowa’s as a top-tier public research university and member of the Big Ten Conference.
She was interim chancellor of the 50,000-student UIUC campus in 2015-16, and earlier served as the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Urbana-Champaign. Before becoming dean, she served as executive vice provost for faculty and academic affairs at UIUC, with a leadership role in campus strategic and financial planning.
In 2016, Killeen named her to the newly restructured role of executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs. The position established a clear No. 2 executive to the president and added responsibilities as senior operating officer to traditional duties as chief academic officer.
Wilson worked closely with Killeen to advocate for the U of I System and elevate its national profile by building on connections with legislators, funding agencies and leaders in higher education, communities and industry.
Among her many achievements, she has helped plan and coordinate the system’s $6.7 billion operating budget, led an initiative that has added two dozen nationally recognized faculty members, and helped guide efforts that have held down tuition, increased institutional financial aid and pushed enrollment over 90,000 students for the first time last fall.
A professor of communication who was a member of the faculty at the University of California at Santa Barbara for 12 years, Wilson is an elected fellow of the International Communication Association. A three-degree alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and her master’s degree and Ph.D in communication.
